Today’s headlines: OSCE says Erdogan has an “unfair advantage” in presidential runoff; UN special rapporteur calls Rohingya in Bangladesh the “new Palestinians”; Beijing deploys hundreds of police to crack down on Hui Muslims in Yunnan protests; experts in Nepal say climate change is the cause of continued death in the Himalayas; and the birth rate of a second child in Russia plummets to 31%.
North Korea
A North Korean “space launcher” launched early in the morning crashed into the water. Due to abnormal starting of the engine, the spacecraft crashed into the Northwest Korean Sea, resulting in mission failure. The launch sparked the highest alert in Tokyo and Seoul. Yesterday, Pyongyang announced that it would soon launch its first military surveillance satellite in June.
Türkiye
The runoff round of Turkey’s May 28 presidential election was marked by “unequal conditions, media bias and a lack of transparency” that favored outgoing leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ) wins. The OSCE-joint international observer mission condemned the practice, saying it used “discriminatory and inflammatory language”.
Bangladesh – Myanmar
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh risk becoming the “new Palestinians”, victims of a long and increasingly forgotten humanitarian and diplomatic crisis. Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the one million people living in “horrific” conditions in crowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar had the right to work in their host countries.
China
Beijing has deployed hundreds of police and made arrests in an attempt to quell protests by Hui Muslims in Yunnan, who are demonstrating against government plans to tear down and rebuild “Chinese-style” mosque domes. Since 2017, one million Uighurs, Hui and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have been arrested in a crackdown.
nepal
Climate change has killed 17 climbers on Mount Everest in recent weeks, according to the head of Kathmandu Tourism, citing record-high accidents and fatalities due to extreme weather changes. Director Yuba Raj Khatiwada’s environmental concerns “had a huge impact on the mountains”.
Malaysia – Macau
Jho Low, suspected of being the mastermind of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1Mdb) fraud, is reportedly hiding out in Macau. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said “multiple sources” confirmed seeing the businessman in the special administrative region of China. A worldwide arrest warrant has been issued against him in the world‘s largest kleptocracy case.
Russia
In recent years, Russia’s birth rate has plummeted. According to a number of statistical agencies, the number of first births has dropped by 19.9%, and the number of second births has dropped by 31%. Almost half of all births are in the 30-39 age group, but this category will decline by 33.8% by 2030, from 12 million to 7.9 million. Numbers in other age groups are also falling sharply.
Kyrgyzstan – Uzbekistan
New negotiations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on the demarcation of the border between the two countries concluded in Samarkand, with the approval of part of the agreed legal norms and technical documents. The border between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is 1,314 kilometers long, and the dispute ends in November 2022, leaving 300 kilometers to be resolved.